Jan Collaert II

Jan Collaert II or Hans Collaert II (c. 1561 in Antwerp – in or after 1620 in Antwerp) was a Flemish engraver and printmaker working in Antwerp around the turn of the 17th century. Collaert also published under the name Jan Baptist Collaert.

Life Jan Collaert was the son of Anna van der Heijde and Jan Collart I and the brother of Adriaen Collaert. He trained under his brother Adriaen as well as with leading Antwerp engravers Philip Galle and Gerard de Jode. He became member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1585 and was the Guild's dean in 1612. The brothers both married a daughter of Galle. Jan married in the late 1590s with Elisabeth Galle, after he became a widower of Elisabeth Firens, whom he had married in 1595. The last entry on Jan Collaert II in the Guild's records dates from the yearbook 1620/21.

The series of twenty illustrations- plus a title page- depicting Biblical characters engaged in heroic acts were completed between 1590 and 1595 in association with Cornelis van Kiel, a Dutch lexicographer and writer, for his Latin text Icones Illustrium Feminarum Veteris Testamenti (The Celebrated Women of the Old Testament). The engravings, "clearly Mannerist in inspiration" are reminiscent of Sandro Botticelli's work, detailed portrayals of Rubenesque figures with tiny heads and expressive hands.

He also produced book illustrations for Antwerp publishing house Plantin Moretus.